Ahhhh, England....

At the risk of reducing my week in England to a single cliched image, here I am in the Truf Tavern pub in Oxford, pint in hand, fish & chips on the table in front of me.

NB: It's not raining. Or snowing.

Playlist for March 25, 2009

Badly Drawn Boy -- You Were Right (Have You Fed the Fish?)
Delgados -- Coming in from the Cold (Hate)
Blur -- End of a Century (Best of)
James -- Whiteboy (Hey Ma)
Lightning Seeds -- Sense (Sense)
Belle & Sebastian -- Another Sunny Day (Life Pursuit)
Stereo Total -- Dactylo Rock (Stereo Total)
Southside Stalkers -- Five (Sound of Speed)
Cocteau Twins -- Seekers Who Are Lovers (BBC Sessions)
St. Etienne -- Like a Motorway (Travel Edition)
Black Box Recorder -- The English Motorway (Facts of Life)
Bjork -- Play Dead (Greatest Hits)
Nick Drake -- Hazey jane II (Bryter Layter)
Neil Halstead -- A Gentle Heart (Oh Mighty Engine!)
Sondre Lerche -- You Know So Well (Faces Down)
Ballboy -- A Day in Space (Club Anthems)
Acid House Kings -- This & That (Labrador 100)
Club 8 -- Missing You (Labrador 100)
Lasse Lindh -- C'Mon Through (Labrador 100)
Leslies -- Dear Friend (Labrador 100)
Maps -- Elouise (We Can Create)
My Bloody Valentine -- Blown a Wish (Loveless)
Slowdive -- When the Sun Hits (Souvlaki)
Hidden Cameras -- Builds the Bone (Mississauga Goddam)
Dire Straits -- Going Home, theme from Local Hero (Alchemy -- Live)

Playlist from March 11, 2009

Longpigs -- She Said (The Sun is Often Out)
Suede -- So Young (Suede)
Radiohead -- Climbing the Walls (OK Computer)
The Fall -- Sparta FC (The Real New Fall LP)
The Jam -- In The City (The Sound of the Jam)
Ballboy -- You Can't Spend Your Whole Life Hanging Round With Arseholes (Guide for the Daylight Hours)
Supergrass -- Richard III (In It For The Money)
Teenage Fanclub -- Personality Crisis (Velvet Goldmine)
The Futureheads -- A to B (The Futureheads)
Looper -- Impossible Things #2 (Up a Tree)
Pipettes -- Pull Shapes (We Are The Pipettes)
Trashcan Sinatras -- Hayfever (I've Seen Everything)
Frightened Rabbit -- Fast Blood (Midnight Organ Fight)
Brian Eno & John Cale -- Empty Frame (Wrong Way Up)
Travis -- Battleships (The Boy With No Name)
Elbow -- Scattered Black & Whites (Asleep at the Back)
Neil Halstead -- A Gentle Heart (Oh Mighty Engine)
Divine Comedy -- Frog Princess (Casanova)
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci -- Let Those Blue Skies (How I Long to Feel That Summer In My Heart)
Lloyd Cole -- Margo's Waltz (Don't Get Weird on Me Babe)
The Cure -- Pictures of You (Disintegration)
Clinic -- Harvest (Visitations)
Camera Obscura -- Let's Get Out of This Country (Let's Get Out of This Country)
British Sea Power -- It Ended on an Oily Stage (Open Season)

Eyebrow Dance

When I try to tell people that ads in the UK are far more creative and funny than ads in the US, this is the kind of thing I am thinking of.

Playlist from February 25, 2009

Inspiral Carpets, feat. Meak E. Smith -- I Want You (Saturn 5)
KT Tunstall -- If Only (Drastic Fantastic)
British Sea Power -- Carrion (The Decline Of...)
My Bloody Valentine -- When You Sleep (Loveless)
Elbow -- The Bones of You (The Seldom Seen Kid)
Ed Harcourt -- The Birds Will Sing For Us (From Every Sphere)
Belle & Sebastian -- I'm Waking Up to Us (Push Barman to Open Old Wounds)
Strawberry Switchblade -- Since Yesterday (Living in Oblivion, 1980s collection)
Stereo Total -- I am Naked (Do The Bambi)
Kate Bush -- Hounds of Love (Whole Story)
George Harrison -- When We Was Fab (Cloud Nine)
The Cure -- Catch (Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me)
Madness -- Michael Caine (Divine Madness)
Rachel Unthank & The Winterset -- Sea Song (The Bairns)
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci -- Where Does Yer Go Now? (How I Long to Feel That Summer In My Heart)
Stina Nordenstam -- Hopefully Yours (And She Closed Her Eyes)
Jens Lekman -- You Put Your Arms Around Me (Night Falls Over Kortdala)
Flight of the Conchords -- Bowie (Flight of the Conchords)
Neil Halstead -- Sometimes the Wheels (Oh! Mighty Engine)
Nick Cave -- Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! (Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!)
Frightened Rabbit - Heads Roll Off (Midnight Organ Fight)
James -- Tomorrow (Best Of)
Turin Brakes -- Hidden Track (Ether Song)

Radio person!

Jan2009 063
Originally uploaded by BenACS

Just a quick pic of your illustrious host, with his tiny little earbuds in. Possibly the first time in history a gloomy expression has been in the same room as a Lemon Jelly CD.

Playlist from Feb 11, 2009

Ride -- Taste (Nowhere)
David Bowie -- Suffragette City (Changes)
Dexy's Midnight Runners -- Let's Make This Precious (Too Rye Ay)
Southside Stalkers -- Five (Sound of Speed)
Looper -- On the Flipside (The Geometrid)
Camera Obscura -- Suspended from Class (Underachievers Please Try Harder)
Passengers -- Miss Sarajevo (Original Soundtracks)
Trashcan Sinatras -- Leave Me Alone (Weightlifting)
Neil Halstead -- Paint a Face (Oh! Mighty Engine)
Snow Patrol -- Engines (A Hundred Million Suns)
Elvis Costello -- American Gangster Time (Momofuku)
Kaiser Chiefs -- Never Miss a Beat (Off With Their Heads)
John Martyn -- Solid Air (No Little Boy)
Robyn Hitchcock -- Television (Spooked)
Badly Drawn Boy -- Once Around the Block (Hour of the Bewilderbeast)
Dizzee Rascal -- Wanna Be (Maths + English)
Life Without Buildings -- The LEanover (Any Other City)
Libertines -- The Boy Looked at Johnny (Up the Bracket)
Flotation Toy Warning -- Popstar Researching Oblivion (Bluffers Guide to the Flight Deck)
Slowdive -- Alison (Souvlaki)
Blur -- You're So Great (Blur)
The Chrysler -- What I Must Keep With Mine (Failures and Sparks)
Cocteau Twins -- Calfskin Smack (Milk and Kisses)